Despite its questionable leadership and policy landscape, Michigan will benefit from President Donald Trump’s reindustrialization through tariffs.
Yes—the same tariffs every expert said would not work. The same tariffs every free marketer said was a betrayal of first principles. The same tariffs every leftist said were just a bad negotiating tactic.
“We believe the future of transportation will be driven by American innovation and manufacturing expertise,” said Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, announcing a $4 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing.
Michigan will get a healthy chunk of that investment.
Orion Assembly in Oakland County will build gas-powered SUVs and light-duty pickup trucks “to help meet continued strong demand.”
Factory Zero in Hamtramck will produce EVs, including the Hummer.
GM’s announcement owes to the Trump tariffs. GM had said that tariffs might cost the company $5 billion. The Trump tariffs raised the cost of doing business in foreign lands, and incentivized building in America. Turns out they’re pretty good at math at GM HQ. It was the numbers game, and not any sense of patriotism, that led to the $4 billion investment.
Under Trump, American companies like GM create more jobs in Michigan, so as to save money. It’s now cheaper to hire American. Turns out you don’t have to give companies bags of cash to come to Michigan. You just have to make the numbers make sense.
It’s the opposite of the corporate welfare model that’s preferred in Lansing. Under Whitmer, our state government pays Chinese companies to set up shop in the heartland, where neighbors don’t want big industry.
Each successive headline grows more expensive.
Mackinac Center research has shown time and again that corporate welfare doesn’t create jobs for workers, just headlines for politicians. Of deals made between 2000 and 2020, only 9% of the jobs subsidized with corporate welfare in Michigan had materialized, the think tank found.
The Lansing model is busted.
That’s why Whitmer, a vocal critic of the Trump tariffs, made sure to not take credit for the GM announcement.
“We don’t care what you drive—gas, diesel, hybrid, or electric—as long as it’s made in Michigan,” Whitmer said in a subdued response to GM’s investment.
In the past, Whitmer has not been shy about taking credit for the supposed creation of even 50 jobs. But not this time. Because this win is due to the tariffs that everybody, Whitmer included, said would be the ruin of America.
“I’m not against tariffs outright, but they are a blunt tool,” Whitmer said in April, at a speech in Washington that was meant to propel her to the national stage.
“You can’t just bust out the tariff hammer to swing at every problem without a clearly defined end-goal,” Whitmer added.
By the end of that Washington trip, still wearing the same outfit she gave the speech in, Whitmer was hiding behind a folder in the Oval Office.
According to GM’s latest announcement, Trump’s tariff hammer is working. There’s no reason to hide from that.
James David Dickson is host of the Enjoyer Podcast. Join him in conversation on X @downi75.
